Ex
by beifongfirebender
Summary: Lin is there for Bumi and Bumi is there for Lin (Linumi as friends, Linzin and Bumizumi mentioned)
1. Chapter 1

_**Since I just love, love, love writing anything between the events of ATLA and LOK, especially if it involves the Gaang descendants heavily, here you go…**_

 **oooooooooo**

Finally, after a truly exhausting day, Lin made her way across a dark parking lot and into her car. This wasn't just another tiring day at the academy, oh no, this had been her first day in the field. Her first day as part of the Republic City Police Force. This was something she wanted for years, something she trained for so often it sometimes felt like the only thing she wanted. But it felt all wrong…

In the morning, while driving to work with her mom, she could barely conceal her excitement, but at the station she felt so out of place. She'd been around police officers her whole life and while all of them were so relaxed and confident she had no idea what do, or what to say. Her field training officer kept calling her Lil' Chief all day, while she struggled to move around in the heavy armor.

All in all, Lin just couldn't wait for all of it to be over so she could get out of there. When she finally reached her car she just sat there for a few seconds trying to steady her heavy breathing and then laid her head on the steering wheel, sighing.

If this was her first day, then how bad was it going to get?

"Hey." A man's voice came from the back seat. Lin, reflexively, turned towards the source and punched the man right in his face.

"Ow!" When Lin recognized the intruder as Bumi, it was already too late. He had blood pouring out of his nose and was trying to stop it with his palms.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he kept yelling, "I had nowhere else to go."

"Really?! Nowhere else but my car?! Do you know how big the planet is?!"

"I'm sorry. I'm… You almost broke my nose!"

"You had it coming, sneaking up to me in the dark!" Lin took a few more deep breaths to calm down, "How are you even here? Aren't you supposed to be on deployment somewhere?"

"I left. General Kiyi covered for me."

"Zuko's half-sister? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? You could be charged with desertion!" Lin turned back to assess how much damage she made, but when she took a better look at his face she realized he'd been crying while waiting for her.

"Izumi's getting married tomorrow morning." he said after a pause. Him and the Fire Princess had broken up several months ago, but it all still felt so fresh. Lin wasn't really sure what happened between them, but she did hear a version of the story from Su. The version where Bumi cheated on her with a unit member.

"I know." Their family sent Su over there as their representative for the ceremony, since she was on her summer break, while the two of them had to work.

"When I found out, I thought about, you know, storming the palace, begging for her to take me back…" Bumi started, "But then I thought: she doesn't wanna see me! She made that very clear. Then I thought about coming back home, but my parents are going to the wedding. And they'd just tell me how much I screwed up, even though I already know I ruined everything!"

"I'm sorry."

"And that's what brought me here. I really didn't know where else to go, since I didn't think I could be alone."

"Well, you're not gonna be." Lin gestured him to scoot over so she could move over to the back seat next to him. When she was settled she noticed a bottle of some kind of alcohol next to his feet. She gently set her head against his shoulder. "You're gonna get through this."

"I'm sorry I scared you. You didn't look so good yourself. What's up?" he tried to change the subject because he felt those tears coming up again.

"Today was my first day on the job."

"Not a good day I take it?"

Lin reached for his bottle and took a big sip, "No, not a good day."

"Couldn't have been that bad…"

"I almost crashed the patrol car. I've been driving for years, but today I suddenly blanked. I just couldn't get any of it right all day. I was way too hesitant with one suspect, then way too aggressive with the other. I just don't have _it_ …" Lin sipped again, "Maybe I'm not meant to be a police officer after all."

"Nonsense. You have to be a police officer. This city deserves someone like you to take care of it." he took the bottle from her.

"Yeah, right…" she dismissed his words.

"No, I'm serious. No one has a good first day. You should have seen me at boot camp. I was a disaster! The drill sergeant picked on me because I was the Avatar's son and because he didn't like how I was looking at him. I was a hair's width from leaving at one point."

"But you didn't…"

"No, I didn't. I got to talking with some guys and, I don't know, they treated me differently. No one cared that I wasn't a bender. I was part of it all, for the first time. If I went back home, I'd just be me again," he paused, "So you can't quit. You're gonna be an awesome cop."

"Considering my last name I kind of have to be. I mean, can you imagine if I quit?!" she gestured showing her annoyance, "My mother would say she should have named me Lily instead of Lin and probably never talk to me again. Tenzin would go into his comforting mode which can get suffocating real fast. Aang would try to give me two motivational talks at the same time just to be on the safe side. And your mother would try to stuff me with as much food as possible…"

Bumi broke out laughing.

"I guess I'm getting pretty tipsy since you're actually sounding real funny." he said.

"Hey, I am fun… Occasionally."

"Oh, that's right. It's just the constant proximity to Tenzin that threw me off."

They both laughed, getting more comfortable on the seats.

"Tell me something," he started, "You and Tenzin are, like, for real serious now?"

Lin nodded while a tiny smile crossed her face.

"Please don't cheat on him." Bumi's tone suddenly turned serious, "You'll just never forgive yourself…"

"You know," she touched his shoulder, "You can still go get her."

"No! No, I don't wanna be that guy that won't leave the girl alone. She deserves better! She deserves better than me…"

Lin struggled with what to say next. She was never really good with the consoling stuff. That was more Tenzin's area. She knew there was nothing she could say to him now that would make it stop sucking. She leaned on his shoulder again.

"Do you know she asked her parents to arrange her a match? An arranged marriage in this day and age…" he se said.

"So she doesn't love him?" Lin knew she sounded like she was one of the characters in one of those annoying stories Su liked to listen to on the radio, but she couldn't help herself.

"I don't know. I just know she doesn't love… You know… Me." Tears began forming in his eyes again.

Lin saw it and poked two fingers at his nose without a warning.

"Hey." he winced in pain.

"I know this Izumi thing hurts like a bitch, but like the nose, it's kind of your fault."

"I know! OK! I know! That doesn't make it bleed any less." he whipped his lip again, "Spirits, I've had ass-kickings that hurt less than a heart-to-heart with you!"

 **oooooooooo**

Tomorrow morning Lin was woken up by a knock on her car's window. She jerked into a sitting position after realizing she wasn't in her bed.

"Can we keep it down?" Bumi repositioned himself on the back seat and tried to fall back asleep.

"Lin, what's going on?" she heard Tenzin's voice from outside the car. In a few seconds she pushed Bumi off her, adjusted her hair and dashed outside.

"Good morning, Tenzin." she said, still a bit drowsy.

"I thought you spent the night at your mom's, but when I got there this morning she told me she thought you spent it with me." he leaned over and saw his brother slowly waking up, "What's Bumi doing here?"

"Don't worry, little brother. I'm not stealing your girl. There was nothing inappropriate happening here last night. We just slept." Bumi crawled out of the car too, clearly more than a little hung-over.

"He wasn't thinking that. No one was thinking that." Lin rolled her eyes, "Now would you please give us some privacy? Back in the car."

"I am a very respected soldi-" Bumi started.

"Back in the car!" Lin ordered and he obeyed with the defeated look of a three-year-old.

"What were you two doing?" Tenzin whispered when he was sure Bumi couldn't hear them.

"You know Izumi's getting married today? Well, he was feeling a bit whiny about that, had a few drops to drink, I couldn't very well let him wonder around like that…."

"Why didn't he come home? I don't get it."

"Because he was embarrassed, but also didn't want to be alone. I kind of get it. I think we should do something with him today."

"But I thought we were celebrating your first day on the force?"

"That can wait." Lin took Tenzin's hand to which he responded with a little tender kiss.

"Thank you for taking care of him, I know he's not your problem."

"He's not a problem, Tez, he's basically family."

After hearing her say that Tenzin pulled her in for a kiss once more, this time a deeper one. They were kissing for a while until they heard a muffled whistle, urging them on.

"Oh, grow up, Bumi." Tenzin hit the car window.

 **oooooooooo**

 _ **One of two parts…**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**This next part takes place a bit later. Couple decades maybe…**_

 **oooooooooo**

Commander Bumi barged into his seventh bar that night and shoved his way to the barkeeper's field of vision.

"Excuse me!" he called, but the man ignored him completely and instead took orders from a group of young girls.

"Excuse me!" Bumi repeated louder, finally getting the man's attention, "Have you see this woman?"

Bumi took a photograph out of his pocket and slammed it on the table. It was a picture of his brother Tenzin with his recently current, currently ex girlfriend, Lin. It wasn't a very up-to-date photo, but he couldn't do much better since this was the only one he could find while in Lin's apartment.

"I ain't sure… Lots of girls come here." the bartender didn't even take his eyes off his work for more than a few seconds.

"Well, take a better look, pal." Bumi shoved the photo close to his face, "Her name is Lin, she's a police chief, really memorable scars, would probably be in uniform."

"Wait, if she's a cop, shouldn't she be coming here asking questions about you, not the other way around?" the man smirked.

"Look, you really don't wanna be pulling my leg today, buddy! Did you or did you not see her today?"

It was only then that the barkeeper noticed Bumi was wearing a suit which really was out of the ordinary for that establishment.

"What happened? Did she run out on you? Leave you at the altar? I can kind of see why…" the man continued with the jokes with the difference that this time a couple of other guests started listening and were laughing too.

Bumi probably would have done something regrettable to that man if at that exact moment he didn't spot the person he was looking for. He was sure that was Lin, sitting a few tables over.

"Never mind. Go back to being useless." he waved off the barkeeper and started walking towards Lin. As expected she didn't look so good. She was at a table alone, her face down, and she was out of her uniform, a rare sight indeed. Her hair and clothes a mess.

"Lin… Come on, I came to take you home." As he came closer he noticed a bunch of empty glasses around her. This couldn't be good.

"Then you came… for nothing!" she lifted her gaze to him and finished the shot she had in front of her. He could now clearly see she'd been crying. A lot.

"Please, come with me." he tried to help her up.

"Stop! Why aren't you there? Huh? Why?!"

"I was at the wedding, but I came to check up on you. I was worried and I can see it wasn't for nothing."

"I am fine. I'm celebrating too! Let's all celebrate!" she stood up and tried to spin around, but ended up falling, "The world is gonna be full of little airbending babies and that's all everyone ever wanted, right? It's all about the airbending… You know what I'm talking about! They hated you because you couldn't do it."

"OK, Lin, that's enough." he crouched down to help her get to her feet, "You're a little tipsy. I was expecting just sad, but this could be fun."

"This isn't right." she stopped walking suddenly, "You should be at Tenzin's wedding to that floozy, not here with me."

"I came for support. Tenzin doesn't need me there. I gave the best man speech, some touchy-feely stuff, some jokes, everyone loved it and I'm done. The hard part was finding you." he was helping Lin walk out of there. She was actually pretty good on her own, but after seeing her fall once, he wasn't gonna allow it twice.

They wobbled like that all the way to her apartment, stopping for food on their way.

"You know, I think you broke the door," he said putting her down on the couch, "You really shouldn't bend while drunk."

"I swear, I'm better now. The food helped." she lied further into the cushions and stared at the celling, "You can go now."

"Don't be silly. You just try to keep it all down while I whip us up some tea." Bumi walked into the kitchen, "I just realized I've never really seen you drunk."

"No one has. Oh, no." she sat up, "I can't say that anymore… I just figured I couldn't feel worse than I felt then, so I gave it a try."

She didn't really wanna share that. Well, tonight she was sharing a lot more than she wanted to.

Bumi just laughed to himself about all the things she blurted out while he was making tea. All of it was funny with the tone she had, but he found the insults to his brother's love-making skills the most hilarious.

"How long did it take you to forget Izumi?" Lin asked when he returned to the living room with the tea.

"Who?"

It took her a second or two, but then she started laughing uncontrollably.

"Alright, you're obviously not back to your old self." he sunk into the couch next to her. Even he didn't think it was that funny, "And I don't think me and the Princess are really a shining example of moving on. If she called me now, I'd come running back without a second thought."

"I thought I was doing OK." Lin started, "I really thought I was moving on finally, but just knowing he's married makes it so… Permanent."

"I know exactly what you mean. I know when I found out Izumi was getting married I kept thinking about how I could have stopped it from happening. What I could have done differently…"

"Maybe not cheat on her." she regretted that as soon as it left her mouth.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't mean that. I meant the times I could have asked her to marry me, but I was too afraid."

"I have that too. Tenzin must have asked me to marry him ten times, at least. And only half of those were a joke…" tears begun forming in Lin's eyes, "I kept saying _not now_. Well, I got my wish."

"Lin, Tenzin might have moved on, but you're still part of our family. You always were, way before my baby brother asked you out."

"Yeah, right…"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"Yeah, you are." Lin paused for a second and then moved over on the couch to crash her lips to his. Bumi was surprised by the kiss, but his instincts kicked in fast so he started moving his mouth as well. This was wrong on so many levels! Bumi was never winning any rewards as a brother, but this was unspeakable! But screw Tenzin! This wasn't fair to Lin. She wasn't herself, she wasn't doing this consciously. Not to mention she was like his baby sister. He had to end it.

"Wait, wait, wait…" Bumi pulled away from her mouth to speak. He didn't take long to think, yet Lin was already lying on top of him on the couch and had somehow already bended his zipper open.

"What?"

"We shouldn't do this… This is wrong…" he tried to sit up but she wouldn't let him.

"Do you think Tenzin cares if you do this? Because he doesn't! This is not about him." she started kissing him again, but this time he pulled away with more strength and managed to sit up.

"I get the impulse, trust me. When Izumi left me I did all kinds of stupid things to feel-"

"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" she leaned away from him.

"No, you're not. You're in pain. And I get the impulse to seek out other broken birds like yourself. _Maybe we can fix each other,_ that's what I used to say to girls. But I'm not what you need. Believe me, I only break things, I never make them better."

"So if you say this doesn't work, then what does?"

"If I ever find out I'll let you know…"

 **oooooooooo**

"Bumi. Bumi. Bumi." Lin tried to wake the man sleeping on her couch with as little noise as possible, "Bumi. Get up. Bumi."

"What?! I'm awake!" he jerked into a sitting position.

"Shh…" Lin put her finger to her lips, "Quiet. My head is killing me and I just have a few questions."

"Yeah, sure." he lowered his voice.

"Question number one: what are you doing here?"

"You don't remember?"

"It's all in pieces. I thought you'd be able to fill in the blanks." she sat next to him rubbing her forehead. There were some scenes in her memory she really couldn't explain.

"Alright. I found you at a bar and took you home after you made a scene…" he started.

"Oh, Spirits…"

"Then I got some food in you so you'd sober up enough to follow a conversation. We had a tear-jerking moment over a cup of tea. Then you tried to seduce me. And then we went to sleep."

"Wait… I'm going to need more details on-"

"The tea was jasmine…" As soon as he said that Lin punched him in the shoulder, "Alright. You kissed me, but that was as far as it went."

"I think I remember that… I'm such an idiot! I apologize, Bumi. I really don't know-"

"Yeah, embarrassment is a serious side effect of drinking," he smirked, "This is actually not bad for your first time hitting the bottle. You had a public scene, damage to personal property, tongued someone you shouldn't have and then forgot all about it. You hit all the right notes."

Lin sighed, "Did you say damage to personal property?"

"Well, first there is the door that you not so gently opened with your metalbending…" Bumi started reluctantly, "And the teapot that fell when you jumped me…"

Lin covered her face with her hands and leaned back. She didn't think she'd ever been this embarrassed. Well, not in her adult life, anyway. Stupid.

"I think you should leave now." she said.

"No, not until I take you out to breakfast."

"You're not gonna let up until I agree, are you?"

"Not a chance. What's more, I'll start teasing you about being smitten with me. Very loudly."

Lin gave him a deadly glare, stood up slowly and started dragging her feet to her bedroom to get dressed.

"Moron." she mumbled through her teeth.

"There she is!" he smirked.

 **oooooooooo**

 _ **Alright, I have a sort of problem with writing people caring about Lin, but I mean… She deserves it so much! She had a horrible relationship with her family and a romantic relationship that fell apart and I relate to that and… You know what? Friendships are underrated as hell… Having people who consider you family is so valuable, even if it's completely platonic. I'm not stopping.**_

 _ **And as always, remember, your comments give me life…**_


End file.
